An unknown number of STRs in Saratoga operate without regulation as other communities are taking matters into their own hands
Short-term rentals in the Town of Saratoga have increased by approximately 100 percent from January to December 2023, according to airdna.co/vacation-rental-data.
Saratoga does not currently have an ordinance that regulates short-term rentals, according to Emery Penner, director of public works and the town’s planning and zoning administrator.
The Town of Saratoga, which has a population of 1,727 at the 2021 census count, currently has 145 available short-term rental listings, according to the airdna website. Sixty-six percent of these are Airbnbs, another 24 percent are Vrbos and 10 percent are listed as both.
By contrast, the Town of Jackson, Wyoming, has had short-term rental regulations on its books since 1994, although they varied and the latest version went into effect on January 1.
Jackson has a substantially larger population than Saratoga, but the number of short-term rentals is similar.
Jackson has a population of 10,849 at the 2021 census count and had about 210 STRs in 2023, said Paul Anthony, town planning director.
Key Data Dashboard, a vacation rental market data company based in San Francisco, provided data on Carbon County as a whole.
“Saratoga is a much smaller location than Jackson, but we can provide county level data for Carbon County as a whole,” said Neil Millard, managing director of Abodeworldwide.com, a public relations firm based in the United Kingdom.
According to Key Data, in 2022 the supply of vacation rentals in Carbon County was 120 and in 2023 was 140, a 17 percent increase.
The two data sites that report on the area have different numbers. The Saratoga Sun could not find out why.
The Sun also asked the Town of Saratoga if it had any statistics for the number of short-term rentals in Saratoga. Planning Director Emery Penner said the town does not keep those numbers.
Towns receive a percentage of the tax money collected on short-term rentals within the state. The statewide lodging tax rate is five percent, according to the Wyoming Department of Revenue lodging tax chart. The local lodging tax rate for Carbon County is an additional two percent. The sales or excise tax in Carbon County is another additional six percent for a total of 13 Percent.
The Town of Jackson Wyoming’s has a combined lodging/sales tax of 11% for STRs, Anthony said.
On January 1, the Town of Jackson enacted a short-term rental land development regulation (LDR Sec. 6.1.5.C), which reduced the number of short term rentals allowed from 12 to 3 per year.
The newest LDR was instigated in response to “confusion” over an interpretation of the previous regulation.
According to a town staff report, in 2007, the Teton County Planning Director made an informal interpretation that the rental of residential units outside the Lodging Overlay and Resort District for occupancy of less [than] 30 days was allowed provided the contracted lease period was for at least 30 days.” This interpretation allowed one short-term rental every 30 days (one per month).
However, in 2021 and then in 2022, the town set out to change the regulation of short term rentals.
The background portion of the staff report states: “Due to substantial confusion created by the 2007 interpretation and subsequent difficulty in enforcing that approach, the Council directed staff in 2021 to work on an amendment to the LDRs to clarify the rules for STRs in residential neighborhoods. In response, staff conducted extensive research into STR programs in Wyoming and around the country, but especially in peer resort communities with similar STR markets. Staff then met with the Planning Commission twice and the Council five times to present information and get feedback. At the last meeting with the Council on October 17, 2022, Council provided specific direction on the primary components they would like to see in a new STR program in residential zones in the Town.”
According to the staff report, the new regulation reduces the number of short term rentals from 12 times a year to three. The reasoning for making the change was to balance the competing interests.
The following is the report’s staff analysis: “ Staff recommends 3 STRs per year. This will provide the best balance between allowing reasonable STR use for locals, but also protecting neighbors from too much commercial STR use. Staff believes that 4 or more STRs will impose too much of a burden on the residential character that is still the primary intended character of our residential zones.”
In the Town of Saratoga last summer, spring and into fall, the planning and zoning commission worked on a draft for a special permit that would regulate the number of short term rentals, Penner said.
He said he was talking with the mayor of Saratoga in August about the Planning and Zoning Commissions’ draft for a short term rental ordinance. The mayor told him that before the commission puts any more work into it, the town attorney should give her legal opinion.
Town attorney Kylie Waldrip said she saw some things that “are not going to fly” in the original draft ordinance, he said.
In October, Waldrip told the P&Z Commission that such an ordinance restricting short-term rentals might risk “violating [a] property right” or be construed as “regulatory takings,” he said. If the town did enact such an ordinance, it might incur “a lot of liabilities and monetary damages, if it tried to do that.”
Subsequently, the town P&Z Commission voted to table the issue for now, he said. The town plans to wait until a city or town with “bigger coffers” addresses the issue and see what happens in the courts.
“We don’t have a ton of money to go to court,” he said.
The Saratoga Sun asked McCall Burua, chairwoman of the planning commission, if she knows the number of short-term rentals that operated in town in 2023 and why the commission decided to draft the ordinance proposing to regulate the STRs.
McCall did not respond as of press time.
The Saratoga Sun asked Jackson planning director Paul Anthony if he knew of any legal case developing or in the courts to test the new short-term rental regulation or similar town ordinances on short-term rentals.
“I don’t think Wyoming has had any STR cases,” Anthony said.
Chief Deputy County Attorney for Teton County Keith Gingery said there are no cases in Teton County courts to test the legality of short-term rental ordinances by local government.
“I don’t know of any cases in other areas of the state,” Gingery added.
The Town of Jackson Land Development Regulation defines a short term rental as “the rental of all or a portion of a residential unit such that occupancy is limited to fewer than 30 consecutive days.”
To legally operate a short-term rental in Teton County, the property owner needs both a business license and a Basic Use Permit (BUP).
The LDR distinguishes between short term rentals outside the lodging overlay/Planned Resort Zone and inside the lodging overlay/Planned Resort Zone.
“The Town has a Lodging Overlay that covers our downtown area and Snow King Resort,’ Anthony said. “So the Town has one set or rules for STRs inside the LO and another set of rules for STRs outside of the LO.”
STRs located outside the Lodging Overlay/Planned Resort Zone (i.e. residential zones): Requires an initial BUP [Basic Use Permit] …and annual approval (renewal) of the new BUP each year the STR is operated. Neighbor Noticing is required outside the Lodging Overlay each year, as stated on the town website.
Additional requirements as stated in the LDR for “STRs located outside of the Lodging Overlay/Planned Resort Zone are:
STRs located inside the Lodging Overlay/Planned Resort Zone: Requires an initial BUP (standard BUP) with no need to renew the BUP annually. Neighbor Noticing is not required inside the Lodging Overlay.
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